This week, Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and leading contender to replace Ben Bernanke as Fed chairman, visited Muncie to give an important speech on moving the economy past the recession.
Thanksgiving evening into the wee hours of Black Friday saw me visiting three Walmart stores in five hours. This was purely research, mind you.
We must have a serious discussion over the size and scope of government and how to pay for it. Economically, the answers are clear. We must cut spending, raise revenue and adjust Social Security to the demographic reality.
The cascading revelations about Pennsylvania State University’s storied football program surely will continue to repulse and sadden us. But within the horror of the events are many lessons, economic and otherwise.
It is easy to make promises while campaigning—and quite another thing to carry them out when confronted with the fullness of fact.
Fixing schools, paving roads, building sidewalks, sprucing up parks and cutting government waste are hard, long, inelegant and thankless tasks—but they are the ones that really matter.
Halloween is the time when the Hicks kids learn about taxes. As a loving father, I combine the safety examination of their treats with a lesson on the effect of marginal tax rates on productivity.
In order to get the U.S. economy to grow at a respectable 3-percent annual rate, the government needs to get a grip on the debt crisis while corporations needs to start spending the money they've stockpiled.
Since at least the 1960s, economists have been warning that the link between human capital and economic growth was growing.
There’s something in the Occupy Indianapolis protest for most of us to appreciate. Among these is the real and persistent influence from both corporations and unions that distorts our tax system. The reality is astonishing.
Both explanations suggest that the large stimulus and enormous government spending deficits are in part to blame for the continued ill performance of the U.S. economy.
It is a bit too early to tell what this recession and recovery will do to the reputation of the many economists who prognosticated through it. But one thing is for certain: It has provided much publicity for many long-dead economists.
How much poverty we have and how bad it is remain elusive questions. The causes of poverty are better known.
In my professional judgment, President Obama’s proposed American Jobs Act is as fair an attempt at stimulating the economy as is now possible. Whether or not it is good policy or will work are other questions.
On this anniversary of 9/11, I think we would do well to acknowledge that we have relinquished too little of ourselves in the years since the attacks.
The demolition of a vacant apartment building is common fare in American cities. It is part of the urban renewal that is much needed in many U.S. cities.
In too many places, government does things the private sector does better and cheaper.
The real purpose of vouchers was to add incentives for public schools to improve.
There are many reasons to believe the second half of the year will bring a faster-growing economy.
It is clear that the agreement to raise the United States’ debt ceiling demands cuts to military budgets, to entitlements and to the vast cornucopia of discretionary spending.
